By ASCP Staff
As professional estheticians, we know retailing is a must for our clients to maintain fabulous results after they leave our spas. We understand the impact that retail esthetician products have on helping our clients continue to improve their skin between appointments. Yes, some of us still aren’t comfortable retailing. The key is to change your mindset from “selling” to helping. Learn how you can raise both your profits and your clients’ satisfaction while having fun at the same time by increasing retail sales!
Make it a skin care party!
Increase retail sales by creating your own holiday and plan a celebratory spa event to purchase home-care products. A few celebration ideas are Girls’ Night Out, a birthday party held on your actual birthday, or a Retail Revival offering custom home-care regimens and special pricing on packages.
Encourage your clients to invite friends and family to the event. This can increase retail sales and result in getting new clients. Give a small gift or a discount off their next esthetician service to those who bring a friend. And don’t forget to ask your skin care vendors to help you market the event and provide esthetician product samples to include in gift bags. You can take a few minutes during the event to further educate your clients on why professional skin care products get much better results than over-the-counter products and why home care is essential to achieve optimal results.
Depending on the season, sell some time-sensitive retail items, such as fun hats to protect their skin from the summer sun posttreatment, or update your menu with skin care products suited for a particular time of year (think pumpkin treatment masks for fall, or cranberry enzyme exfoliants for Christmas). This creates a sense of urgency that the client must buy now or they’ll miss out!
Shift your mindset on increasing retail sales
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Many skin care professionals don’t consider themselves salespeople and may be uncomfortable with selling esthetician products to their clients. You might feel you’re being too pushy, salesy, or aggressive by selling retail. If so, it’s time to shift your mindset. By selling your clients home-care products, you are doing them a favor. They will never achieve the results they want—the reason they came to you in the first place—if they don’t take care of their skin every day, not just every three weeks when you perform a service on them. The lesson here: Believing you are doing your clients a favor—one they will appreciate—can change your entire attitude about “selling” and help increase retail sales. It’s like the adage that if you see your dentist twice a year, but never brush or floss your teeth between visits, what kind of shape do you think your teeth will be in? It’s your professional responsibility to educate your clients on the necessity of home care.
Follow up
Don’t forget about your clients when they leave the spa. You can create a retail follow-up system that is full of benefits for you and your customers.
Many online booking systems will help you keep track of every retail esthetician product a client has purchased from you in the past. This makes it easy to send out a reminder email or text that sounds something like, “Hi Amber! My records show that you are probably close to running out of (fill in the blank), and I’m reaching out because I want your skin to continue to look and feel amazing. Please let me know if you want to swing by and pick up some more, or take advantage of my free shipping special.”
Rockin’ retail is achievable for any esthetician and can increase your profit. It’s a win-win because both you and your clients will reap the rewards!
Discover more ways to increase your retail sales in our podcast: Ep 221 – The Consultation: Your Foundation for Retail Sales
FAQ about Skincare Retail
- Why is it important to sell retail esthetician products?
The biggest reason to sell retail is to build client loyalty. It’s been proven time after time, study after study, that a client who purchases retail will remain a client longer than those that don’t. If that isn’t reason enough to sell esthetician products, the other major reason is that it simply brings in revenue.
- I don’t have much space for my retail area. Any tips?
Your retail area does not need to be huge. The most important thing to remember is that first impressions are so important! Make the most of your space by making it attractive, and rotate the esthetician products every month to keep things fresh. And be creative. If you have large windows, are you using them to display merchandise and entice people with professional signage? An attractive display for your esthetician products will help increase retail sales.
- I’m in a salon suite. How do I market my retail to only those clients who enter my space?
In a suite, you can focus all your attention on in-store marketing in the form of merchandise presentation, visual displays, and promotions for greater retail sales and profits. The skin care products you display in your retail area must serve a specific purpose and target a specific customer base. For each esthetician product category, you must showcase a range of styles, price points, and options—a good, better, best selection will offer an appealing product mix that will satisfy most shoppers’ needs and wants and help increase retail sales.
- How do I sell more than one esthetician product to a client without feeling like I’m being pushy?
Estheticians may feel bad if they offer several skin care product suggestions to their client, even when the products will enhance their skin between appointments. Don’t be afraid to bundle sell. When you bundle sell, you are offering your clients a way to continue to improve their skin and maintain the results you’ve helped them achieve during your services. You need to be able to identify what the product is, what the features and related benefits of the product are, and how it will help your client’s skin. If the client understands these benefits, you are sure to increase retail sales on esthetician products.
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